Chelsea´s tale of woe as poor start continues at Everton

Chelsea slumped to their third Premier League defeat in five games on Saturday – 3-1 at Everton – as their slow start to the new season continued.

Steven Naismith was the Toffees’ hero with a hat-trick with Nemanja Matic’s stunning 35-yard drive nothing more than a consolation for the London club.

There were plenty of post-match statistics to emphasise the problems facing the defending champions and manager Jose Mourinho.

Here are a selection:

– This is the first time that Jose Mourinho has lost two successive Premier League games since May 2006.

– In their last seven Premier League games, Chelsea have conceded 16 goals – one more than they conceded in the whole of Mourinho’s first Premier League season in charge of the Blues in 2004-05 (15).

– The last time that Chelsea had a worse start to a top-flight season was in 1986-87 (three points – P5 W0 D3 L2). They finished that season in 14th position.

– Chelsea have already equalled their tally of defeats from the whole of 2014-15 (three) after five games of 2015-16.

– Chelsea have lost four of their last seven Premier League games – they had only lost four of their previous 44 PL games before this run.

– Cesc Fabregas hasn’t scored or assisted in any of his last six Premier League apps – his longest run in the competition without a goal involvement since a nine game run in Jan-Apr 2007.

– Steven Naismith has now scored six Premier League goals against Chelsea; four more than against any other side.

– Naismith has scored in three different Premier League games against a Jose Mourinho Chelsea side – more often than any other player.

– Naismith was the sixth player to score a hat-trick after coming on as a substitute in a Premier League game and the first since Romelu Lukaku (5-5 v Manchester United) in May 2013.

– He also became only the fifth player to score a Premier League hat-trick against Chelsea and the first since Robin van Persie in October 2011.